Background: We investigated the correlation between the androgen receptor (AR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) as a prognostic factor in breast cancer (BC). AR is expressed in 60-80% of BC.
Methods: We evaluated the prognostic values of AR expression among 143 patients with BC for 36 months. The protocol was amended to measure androgen, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression by IHC and the percentage of hormone positive nuclei was quantified. We determined and quantified the Her2/neu status using IHC and in situ hybridization. The methodology consisted in using a Kaplan-Meier analysis and restricted mean survival time up to 36 months. The principal endpoints of the study were overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS).
Results: 57% of patients (n = 82) from our group had AR+ (≥ 1%). Patients with AR+ had better OS, 35.50 vs. 33.40 months, with p = 0.027. Moreover, PFS was prolonged for patients AR+, 32.60 vs. 30.50 months, with p = 0.38. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients had lower OS and no difference was observed for PFS.
Conclusions: Both OS and PFS were favorably influenced by the presence of AR. TNBC had worse outcomes compared with patients with hormonal or/and Her 2/neu positive disease in terms of OS.
Keywords: androgen receptor; breast cancer; immunohistochemistry; overall survival; progression free survival.